Archive for the 'Su A Cravens' Tag Under 'USC' Category

USC begins spring practice Tuesday afternoon. For a big-picture look at the Trojans, check out my spring preview story here. For some additional subplots, check out the questions and answers below.

1. How much can Adoree’ Jackson handle?

As a freshman last season, Jackson played on defense, offense and special teams. Since then, he has added long-jumping (and the 4X400 relay) for the track team to his plate. He’ll do all of the above this spring. Coach Steve Sarkisian said “we’ve got a really good plan” to manage Jackson’s time. While he will continue to participate in track, getting better at football remains Jackson’s No. 1 priority, Sarkisian said.

2. Who will emerge as leaders on defense?

The defense lost several of its veteran leaders with the departures of Hayes Pullard, Gerald Bowman, Leonard Williams, J.R. Tavai and Josh Shaw. There’s plenty of experience coming back on that side of the ball but no clear-cut leaders. The void will fill itself, Sarkisian said. “We’re not going to force the issue,” he said. “It’ll happen. It’ll happen naturally. When guys do step up, it’ll be right for them.”

With the March 3 start of spring practice fast approaching, it’s time to examine USC’s depth chart on a position-by-position basis. I won’t predict the exact order, but I will break up each position into tiers and discuss some key issues.

LINEBACKERS

DEFINITE STARTERS

OLB Su’a Cravens, junior

ILB Anthony Sarao, redshirt senior

POSSIBLE STARTERS

ILB Michael Hutchings, junior

ILB Lamar Dawson, redshirt senior

ILB Olajuwon Tucker, sophomore

OLB Jabari Ruffin, redshirt junior

OLB Scott Felix, redshirt junior

PASS-RUSH SPECIALISTS

OLB Quinton Powell, junior

OLB Charles Burks, redshirt senior

NEWCOMERS TO WATCH

OLB Osa Masina, freshman

OLB Porter Gustin, freshman

REDSHIRT POSSIBILITIES

ILB Cameron Smith, freshman

ILB John Houston Jr., freshman

WHERE DO THEY FIT IN?

OLB Malik Dorton, redshirt freshman

OLB Don Hill, redshirt freshman

SPRING STORYLINES

USC has done a really nice job of stocking this position. Assuming he remains at linebacker (as opposed to moving back to safety), Cravens is the star here. Sarao is as steady and solid as they come. After that, questions abound. One assumes Dawson will be full go after sitting out last season while recovering from 2013 knee surgery; how he performs will go a long way toward determining the identity of Sarao’s ILB running mate. The availability of Ruffin, who tore his ACL in August 2014, is less certain. He was slated to start before getting hurt; now he’ll be part of competition/rotation that also includes Felix, whose in-season production didn’t match his preseason promise. Hutchings and Powell need to get bigger to have bigger roles. Early enrollee Smith has plenty of bulk (6-3, 240); how he performs in spring could determine whether he’s on or off the redshirt track.

CAMP QUESTIONS

Will big-time recruits Masina and Gustin live up to the hype and emerge as immediate contributors? Who besides Cravens (68 tackles, 17 TFL, 9 PBU, 5 sacks, 3 INT in 2014) will emerge as a consistent playmaker? Can Dawson stay healthy and solidify the interior of a defense that no longer has leading tackler Hayes Pullard? Who among the less-experienced returnees (Hutchings, Tucker, Powell, Ruffin, et al) will separate himself from the others? Who will make up for J.R. Tavai’s 13.5 tackles for losses, which included seven sacks?

(NOTE: I did not include sophomore-to-be Uchenna Nwosu in this depth chart. Nwosu is not currently enrolled. He is expected to rejoin the team in summer, but until that becomes official, I'm excluding him.)

USC has enough room for all of them after receiver Tristan Payton decommitted Friday. Payton, a four-star prospect from Jacksonville, Fla., was named MVP of the Semper Fi All-American Bowl – but also was considered a candidate to decommit or be dropped.

Masina, a four-star prospect according to Rivals (but still its 37th-ranked player overall), projects as outside linebacker in USC’s 3-4 scheme. Although all-conference star Su’a Cravens returns at that position – and Jabari Ruffin is expected to return from a knee injury – the Trojans need reinforcements at outside ’backer.

Rankings like this mean very little, of course. But they’re fun to talk about, which is why people like me do them and people like you (OK, me too) can’t resist clicking on them.

Relatively speaking, I’m an optimist when it comes to the Steve Sarkisian regime. (To qualify as such, one merely needs to view him as something more than the worst coach in the history of football at any level.) But I’m not bullish enough on Sark or the Trojans to project that grand a finish next season.

The offense should be spectacular, despite the losses of Nelson Agholor and Buck Allen. Cody Kessler will be a Heisman Trophy contender. The entire offensive line is back. And there’s the usual abundance of talent at the skill positions.

Sophomore Su’a Cravens made first-team All-Pac-12 as a defensive back. He played most of the season at outside linebacker. After some initial resistance, Cravens is fully committed to that position moving forward.

“I want to master my craft at this position if I’m going to be playing it,” Cravens said, recalling a recent conversation with linebackers coach Peter Sirmon. “He said, ‘Well, if you feel like you’ll be successful at that position, then we’ll do that.’ ”

Cravens has been wildly successful thus far. Playing primarily at OLB after a preseason knee injury to Jabari Ruffin, Cravens leads USC in tackles for losses (16). He’s tied for first in interceptions (2), ranks second in passes defensed (10) and is third in sacks (5).

“He was ridiculously productive,” USC coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We made the move, and his numbers just started shooting through the roof.

“It’s hard to move him away from the ball knowing (that) when he’s close to it he can make so many plays.”

Here are my top five observations from USC’s 38-20 loss to UCLA on Saturday at the Rose Bowl:

1. Safety stance

It’s no secret that USC’s safeties have struggled at times this season, especially sophomore Leon McQuay III and freshman John Plattenburg. Senior Gerald Bowman has been the steadiest member of the group. Yet defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox – I presume it was him; the USC assistant coaches seem to vanish after games – decided he would play Bowman in a spy-type role against Brett Hundley, leaving McQuay and Plattenburg to patrol the deep middle. The results were disastrous. McQuay couldn’t tackle, which isn’t a new problem. Neither player could cover. Hundley picked on them time and again. I don’t get that strategy at all. If you’re going to spy Hundley, why not have Su’a Cravens do it? The return of Josh Shaw gave USC an opportunity to put its best 11 defenders on the field. The lineups Wilcox typically used didn’t feature the best 11.

2. Spread and shred

You want a good game plan? I submit UCLA’s offensive strategy. The Bruins kept sending the ball to the perimeter via Paul Perkins sweeps or bubble screens (which the Trojans didn’t defend nearly as well as everyone else seems to defend theirs). Those were the jabs. With USC’s defense spread from sideline to sideline, UCLA delivered knockout blows between the hashes. All three of Hundley’s touchdown passes were thrown down the middle. His touchdown run went right up the middle. USC actually did a good job of containing Hundley on the ground; he had just 2 net yards rushing. But the Trojans’ defense on the TD run was atrocious, with the normally reliable Cravens completely buying Hundley’s fake handoff to Perkins and running right past the quarterback.

Here are three things to watch for in Saturday’s USC-UCLA game (5 p.m., KABC/7), plus a final-score prediction and game-preview links:

1. L.A. SHAW

What kind of impact could Josh Shaw have in his first game back? I think it could be significant. Shaw won’t start, but my guess is that he’ll be USC’s third cornerback in a game in which the Trojans need at least three cornerbacks. Shaw has the size to match up with big receivers such as Jordan Payton and Eldridge Massington. Shaw also is a good tackler, a must when trying to defend Brett Hundley. Will Shaw be rusty? Undoubtedly. He won’t be able to play full time on defense after only a handful of practices, none of which were in pads. But he will have fresh legs. And having him available will enable USC to keep Su’a Cravens at linebacker, which leads us into item No. 2 …

2. SU’A THE SPY?

I don’t envision USC using Cravens as a full-time spy on Hundley. But I can see the Trojans doing it occasionally. Regardless of whether that’s Cravens’ specific assignment, you want him around the line of scrimmage in a game like this. Cravens is one of the few defenders in the country who can match Hundley’s athleticism and track him down in the open field. Cravens said he played a spy role at times in high school, and he seemed open to the idea of shadowing Hundley if called upon to do so. “He’s a great player,” Cravens said. “I feel like I’m competent in my abilities. We’ll see what happens Saturday.”

One of the trickiest aspects of any rivalry game – particularly one in which the combatants are separated by 13 miles – is keeping one’s emotions under control.

USC sophomore Su’a Cravens believes the Trojans’ inability to do that last season contributed to their 35-14 loss to UCLA.

“Last year we let our emotions get the best of us,” Cravens said. “It’s a rivalry game. Things like that happen. This year we have to be cool, calm and collected and just go out and play our game.”

The thing is, it’s easy to say that in the middle of the week – a lot harder under the lights at the Rose Bowl with 80,000-plus people screaming from the stands.

“There’s a fine line and a balance in there of being excited to play, wanting to play … yet also being focused enough to do your job over and over and over again with proper technique and fundamentals and physicality,” USC coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday. “That’s what we’re striving to do. These guys have given me no indication that that’s not going to occur. I think we’re going to play really good football Saturday.”